Six more search warrants related to the gunman who conducted last month’s murderous rampage are expected to be unsealed in Truro provincial court Monday.

Judge Laurel Halfpenny MacQuarrie last week released the first of seven initial warrants that a number of media outlets had applied to be unsealed.

Federal and provincial Crown attorneys had requested further time to properly vet the information, given the sheer volume of material involved in a total of an anticipated 20 sealed warrants and to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

However, David Coles, the lawyer representing the applicants, including SaltWire Network, had pressed during the May 19 hearing for an earlier timeline than proposed by the Crown in order to make the information public earlier than the number of months he anticipated if the Crown’s proposed schedule was accepted.

“I guess the concern I have is obviously my clients are interested in having made public that which should be public as soon as possible,” Coles said. “There’s been a recognition that to abandon the request for certain still-secret information, we’ve got to know the rationale for that.”

Federal Crown attorney Mark Covan said while he didn’t “fundamentally disagree with a lot of what Mr. Coles has said … there’s one additional aspect he didn’t mention, and that is a requirement in law for the Crown to be detailed and specific with respect to vetting materials in the way that they have.”

Covan said the proper and legal process for vetting the documents was not as simple as taking a “black magic marker” and wiping out entire paragraphs, but instead required careful reading and the redaction of particular words or sentences.

“The magnitude of the enterprise if significant,” provincial prosecutor Mark Heerema said. “This matter is moving swiftly and we’re certainly doing our best to meet these times and we will continue to do so.”

Halfpenny MacQuarrie, while indicating there should not be any undue delays, agreed with the Crown’s position that Coles was not aware of the volume of the information they are dealing with and they required reasonable time to properly vet the documents.

“I have to agree with what Mr. Covan says about redaction," the judge said. "It’s a difficult thing to do if it is going to be done correctly, and I’m getting the impression that everyone wants it done correctly the first time.

"As I said last time, expediency is not going to trump completeness and accuracy in terms of detail.”

Another hearing has been set for May 29, during which Coles is to indicate whether the applicants wish to continue with the process and to receive an explanation for the vetting. The Crown is then required to provide a table and an affidavit from an investigator outlining the reasons for the redactions.

June 26 has been set as the expected deadline for the unsealing of other warrants and production orders that were filed since the initial CBC application, which was filed in April.

The gunman murdered 22 people during his 13-hour shooting rampage that began in Portapique, Colchester County, on the night of April 18 and ended the next morning when he was fatally shot by police at a gas station near Enfield. The shooter also burned a number of structures, including his own properties and vehicles in Portapique, while driving a mocked-up RCMP vehicle and wearing a police uniform.